The biblical canon

29 August 2015

The biblical canon is a list or set of books included in the Bible and believed to be authoritative and inspired by God. The term itself was coined by Christians, but the idea is present in Jewish sources.

Such lists, or royalties, have been developed through debate and agreement with the religious authorities of these faiths. Books excluded from the canon are considered non-canonical or apocryphal. There are differences between the Jewish and Christian communities and between the canons of the different Christian denominations.

Christian canons are considered closed (books cannot be added or removed. The closure of the canon reflects the fact that the public revelation is over and therefore there would be no other complete and authoritative books to be canonized. Unlike, an open canon allows for the addition of additional books through the process of continuous revelation, and this is the case with the Mormon Bible.

The word “canon” comes from the Greek noun κανών “Kanon” what does it mean “cane” O “cane” or also “rule” O “measure”, which in turn derives from the Hebrew term barrel “kaneh” and is often used as a measurement standard. So, a canonical text it is a single authoritative edition for a particular job. The creation of a canonical text may involve an editorial selection from the traditions of the biblical manuscript with variant interdependence. The significant traditions of biblical manuscripts in the Hebrew Bible are represented in the Septuagint and Peshitta, in the Samaritan Pentateuch, in the Masoretic Text, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Among the different Christian confessions there are considerable differences both in the way of understanding the inspiration of the Bible and in the actual lists of books considered canonical. You can therefore have different fees:

  • Hebrew canon;
  • Samaritan canon;
  • orthodox canon;
  • Catholic canon;
  • Protestant canon;
  • Coptic canon;
  • Syriac canon.

The Christian Bible includes the Old Testament and the New Testament, specific Christian, that is, the part relating to Jesus Christ and the nascent apostolic Church.

Most Protestant churches, albeit with differences according to the periods, follows for the Old Testament the Hebrew canon of 39 books (against that of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that others add 7 apocryphal books). Books that do not belong to the canon of the Bible are called deuterocanonical by Catholics and apocryphal by us Protestants. As for the New Testament instead, Catholics and Protestants recognize the same number of books, 27. The total is 66 books.

The canon of sacred books for the Jews ultimately includes 24 books (the number however becomes 39 counting the twelve minor prophets separately, the two books of Samuel, the two books of kings, Ezra and Nehemiah, the two books of the Chronicles).

The Protestant Bible, as said before, consists of 39 books of the Old Testament (common to the Hebrew Bible), that I am:

Torah (Law):

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

The Prophets or Historical Books:

Joshua, judges, First and Second Book of Samuel, First and Second Book of Kings.

The later Prophets:

Isaiah, Geremia, Ezekiel.

The minor Prophets:

That is, Joel, Amos, Abdia, Jonah, Micaiah, No, Abacuc, Sofia, Haggai, Zaccaria, Malachi.

The Writings:

Strait, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Rut, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Ester, Daniele, Esdra, Nehemiah, First and Second book of the Chronicles.

Also for the New Testament, written in Greek (although perhaps the evangelist Matthew composed his book in Hebrew or Aramaic), in ancient times there had been differences between the various churches on the number of books to be accepted as inspired. In particular, doubts had arisen about the epistles not attributed to Paul of Tarsus and about the Apocalypse. The controversial books of the New Testament were called antilegomena in antiquity.

The New Testament consists of 27 Books (common to all Christian confessions):

Gospels:

Gospel according to Matthew

Gospel according to Mark

Gospel according to Luke

Gospel according to John

Acts of the Apostles

letter Paoline:

Letter to the Romans

First letter to the Corinthians

Second letter to the Corinthians

Letter to the Galatians

Letter to the Ephesians

Letter to the Philippians

Letter to the Colossians

First letter to the Thessalonians

Second letter to the Thessalonians

First letter to Timothy

Second letter to Timothy

Letter to Titus

Letter to Philemon

More Epislole:

Hebrews (attributed by several ancient authors to Paul)

Letter of James

First letter of Peter

Second letter of Peter

First letter of John

Second letter of John

Third letter of John

Letter of Jude

Apocalypse of John

The total of inspired books is therefore 66.